Cornelia Hofmann

Rydberg state creation by tunnel ionization

It is well known from numerical and experimental results that the fraction of Rydberg states (excited neutral atoms) created by tunnel ionization declines dramatically with increasing ellipticity of laser light, in a way that is similar to high harmonic generation (HHG). We present a method to analyze this dependence on ellipticity, deriving a probability distribution of Rydberg states that agrees closely with experimental (Nubbemeyer et al 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 101 233001) and numerical results. We show using analysis and numerics that most Rydberg electrons are ionized before the peak of the electric field and therefore do not come back to the parent ion. Our work shows, for the first time, the similarities and differences in the process that distinguishes formation of Rydberg electrons from electrons involved in HHG: ionization occurs in a different part of the laser cycle, but the post-ionization dynamics are very similar in both cases, explaining why the same dependence on ellipticity is observed.

Comparison of different approaches to the longitudinal momentum spread after tunnel ionization

We introduce a method to investigate the longitudinal momentum spread resulting from strong-field tunnel ionization of helium which, unlike other methods, is valid for all ellipticities of laser pulse. Semiclassical models consisting of tunnel ionization followed by classical propagation in the combined ion and laser field reproduce the experimental results if an initial longitudinal spread at the tunnel exit is included. The values for this spread are found to be of the order of twice the transverse momentum spread.

Non-adiabatic imprints on the electron wave packet in strong field ionization with circular polarization

The validity of the adiabatic approximation in strong field ionization under typical experimental conditions has recently become a topic of great interest. Experimental results have been inconclusive, in part, due to the uncertainty in experimental calibration of intensity. Here we turn to the time dependent Schrodinger equation, where all the laser parameters are known exactly. We find that the centre of the electron momentum distribution (typically used for calibration of elliptically and circularly polarized light) is sensitive to non-adiabatic effects, leading to intensity shifts in experimental data that can significantly affect the interpretation of results. On the other hand, the transverse momentum spread in the plane of polarization is relatively insensitive to such effects, even in the Keldysh parameter regime approaching gamma approximate to 3. This suggests the transverse momentum spread in the plane of polarization as a good alternative to the usual calibration method, particularly for experimental investigation of non-adiabatic effects using circularly polarized light.

The effect of electron-electron correlation on the attoclock experiment

We investigate multi-electron effects in strong-field ionization of Helium using a semi-classical model that, unlike other commonly used theoretical approaches, takes into account electron-electron correlation. Our approach has an additional advantage of allowing to selectively switch off different contributions from the parent ion (such as the remaining electron or the nuclear charge) and thereby investigate in detail how the final electron angle in the attoclock experiment is influenced by these contributions. We find that the bound electron exerts a significant effect on the final electron momenta distribution that can, however, be accounted for by an appropriately selected mean field. Our results show excellent agreement with other widely used theoretical models done within a single active electron approximation.

Nonadiabatic effects in electronic and nuclear dynamics

Due to their very nature, ultrafast phenomena are often accompanied by the occurrence of nonadiabatic effects. From a theoretical perspective, the treatment of nonadiabatic processes makes it necessary to go beyond the (quasi) static picture provided by the time-independent Schrödinger equation within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation and to find ways to tackle instead the full time-dependent electronic and nuclear quantum problem. In this review, we give an overview of different nonadiabatic processes that manifest themselves in electronic and nuclear dynamics ranging from the nonadiabatic phenomena taking place during tunnel ionization of atoms in strong laser fields to the radiationless relaxation through conical intersections and the nonadiabatic coupling of vibrational modes and discuss the computational approaches that have been developed to describe such phenomena. These methods range from the full solution of the combined nuclear-electronic quantum problem to a hierarchy of semiclassical approaches and even purely classical frameworks. The power of these simulation tools is illustrated by representative applications and the direct confrontation with experimental measurements performed in the National Centre of Competence for Molecular Ultrafast Science and Technology.

Non-adiabatic Effects in Electron Momenta

In strong-field tunnel ionization of Helium, both adiabatic and fully non-adiabatic theoretical descriptions predict smaller final longitudinal electron momentum distributions than measured experimentally. Semiclassical simulations including an initial longitudinal momentum spread reproduce experimental values.